Newly planted birch trees provide shade for patrons of Randle's Bar and Restaurant on the 1000 block of Nicollet Avenue. The trees were planted as part of the $50 million Nicollet Mall reconstruction. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Some artistic touches for Nicollet Mall

Infrastructure is taking shape on the 700 block of Nicollet Mall for the “Light Walk,” a signature feature of the $50 million Nicollet Mall reconstruction. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

The $50 million Nicollet Mall reconstruction project is heading into the home stretch as workers make the transition from pavement and curb work to installing some of the eye-catching artistic features that will set the mall apart from ordinary streets.

Leading a tour of the project Tuesday, Minneapolis transportation engineering and design director Don Elwood pointed to completed intersections, trees, and freshly laid pavement as signs of progress.

Nearly 75 percent of the Nicollet Mall intersections are “back to normal flow” with the opening of Sixth Street and Seventh Street this week, according to the project team. Remaining intersections at Fourth, Eighth and 10th Streets are expected to be open by Labor Day.

“We are nearing completion of the ground work, the concrete work. Now we are moving into the above-ground portion,” Elwood said Tuesday, as cement mixers churned out fresh batches of wet concrete in the background.

Workers install a portion the Ned Kahn sculpture, “Prairie Tree,” on the 1000 block of Nicollet Avenue Tuesday afternoon. The sculpture is being installed as part of the $50 million Nicollet Mall reconstruction, which is on track for completion in November. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Newly planted trees represent some of the most visible above-ground progress. Nearly 100 trees have been planted along five blocks on the project’s south side. Another 140 plantings are in progress on the north side. Eight tree species will take root along the mall.

Elwood said he’s confident the trees will do well in the busy downtown setting.

“Not only do we have the planting soil in place, but there is an underground irrigation system to ensure that the trees are getting enough water — and the right amount of water,” he said.

An artistic tree is taking shape on the mall’s east side between 10th Street and 11th Street. On Tuesday, crews continued installation of the large stainless steel structure, which will support thousands of small aluminum squares that will move with the breeze.

Designed by California-based artist Ned Kahn, the “Prairie Tree” will “act with the weather and the wind and create wave-like patterns,” said Mary Altman, public arts administrator for the city of Minneapolis.

“It will be kind of a mesmerizing piece, a great piece for people who want to sit here and kind of contemplate and experience the mall,” Altman said.

A few blocks north of the Prairie Tree, crews are installing the two-block “light walk,” which will include a series of overhead installations featuring programmable, color-changing LED lights. Lights will be embedded in the pavement, on the sides of the vertical installations, and across the top.

Maple Grove-based Meyer Contracting is doing the road and streetscape work. Curb Masters, based in South St. Paul, is doing the concrete work as a subcontractor. New York-based James Corner Field Operations is heading up the design.

The project is being paid for with $21.5 million in state bonding, $3.5 million from the city and $25 million in assessments on property owners.